Hostile Takeover ❖ Jake Riley | ✓ [book 1]

17~ Love is Growing Up

"Most likely scenario?" Slater asked.

"The virus was never here at all. Wherever Max fled to, that's probably where he's keeping it," he replied.

"What should we be looking for until then?" Lex asked.

"We plan to dispatch a fleet of drones tonight, they can scan the district and find any cold traces left behind by the virus," he replied.

"Not only that, but we also have to figure out Max's end game. How's he going to distribute the virus?" Slater asked.

"Does the girl have any answers?" Tate asked.

"No. Max played this smart, he knew he couldn't even tell his hostages his plans," Jake replied.

"Very well. We'll continue our search over here. We'll keep you boys posted," then he signed off. Jake and Lex stood back and they left the reception office, shaking their heads at the situation.

"We can't let that virus break out again. Especially if Max is planning to weaponize it, we could have a nation-wide epidemic on our hands," Lex said.

"His original plan was to leak it into the water pipes under ground," Jake said, "But we can't just shut off the valves, they reach as far as the suburbs,"

"And it'll be a mess, just what Max wants," he replied.

Jake pressed his lips together, "We need to put ourselves into Max's shoes. His Merry Band of Murderers have been either killed or taken in, he's on his own. He needs somewhere isolated, with lots of space to build and transfer a bomb,"

"As well as store a deadly virus," Lex said.

"Right. The answer's probably right in front of us, we're just too tired from all these wild goose chases to see it,"

Lex sighed, "Listen. I just want to let you know that I put a protective detail on Quentin and his family," he said.

"How come?" Jake asked.

"Max didn't just take Jenna for the hell of it; he targeted her to get at you," he replied.

"In that case, shouldn't you put a detail on Jana?" he asked.

"I called Jana earlier, and she told me quite verbally that she didn't need any protection," he replied. Jake started to laugh.

"If it were up to Jana, she'd have solved this whole damn thing in a day and we could all go home," he chuckled.

"Don't give her the ego boost,"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, Jake sat on a couch in the waiting room, while an iPad displayed a map of the district. It was Dr. Tate's app, and Jake was using it to watch the fleet of drones Tate had sent out to scower the streets for any trace of the virus. He was so intent to concentrate, he didn't even notice when Jenna walked in; now in a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie the nurse had given her.

"You're staring at that thing like you're hoping it's going to talk back to you," she said. Jake looked up at her, smiling at the sight of her on her feet again.

"You want to keep me company then? So I don't look so crazy?" he asked. Jenna smiled back, then shuffled over and sat down next to Jake. Her eyes immediately fell on the iPad with the five multicolored dots traveling around.

"That's cool. What is it?" she asked.

"It's a map that Tate designed so we could follow his fleet of virus-detecting drones," he said. Jenna's smile quickly went away.